


12 Days of Hollstein

by LightofDay



Category: Carmilla (Web Series), Carmilla - Fandom
Genre: 12 Days of Carmilla, F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-12-14
Updated: 2014-12-17
Packaged: 2018-03-01 08:59:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,286
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2767295
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LightofDay/pseuds/LightofDay
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I'm doing the 12 Days of Carmilla challenge started by ellianderjoy on Tumblr. Hollstein, but may include other characters. All fluff and/or romance.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire

Laura was _not_ a grumpy person – her brooding vampire girlfriend was much better suited to that descriptor than she was. However, with the holidays fast approaching, the ever-present clamor of carols was beginning to grate on her. She didn’t mind participating in festive cheer – decorating trees, sledding, gingerbread cookies, even caroling itself was something she enjoyed; but it was getting ridiculous. The Silas Glee Club had kicked off their caroling around Mid-November, and it had yet to cease. There was only so much _Joy to the World, Silent Night, Jingle Bells_ , and whatever other classics the Glee Club seemed to have shoved into their craniums to spout off at any given moment she could take. Hence, her mood was growing fouler by the day; at first, Carmilla had thought it was kind of endearing, seeing her perpetually optimistic girlfriend in the sort of mood people usually associated with Carmilla – but she was quickly growing tired of it. 

This morning the Glee Club had decided to rouse the whole campus from their slumber by marching through the halls of the dormitories singing a rather high-pitched rendition of _Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire_. That seemed to be the last straw for Laura – she shot out of bed, hair flying up every which way, looking to Carmilla very much like an enraged porcupine, and flew to the door before unleashing some very strategic Krav Maga moves upon the troope. Carmilla left her to it, and it wasn’t until she heard those poor souls howling – accompanied by Laura screaming _“Don’t worry, I’ll roast your nuts over the pits of hell!”_ – that she decided to intervene.

When she emerged into the hall, she found one of the members very close to losing his family jewels indeed. She grabbed Laura by her wrist, dragging her back to the safety of their room, ignoring the girls’ shrieks of fury and incessant cursing of the boys’ entire family line. Once she shoved Laura through their door, sparing an amused glance back at the hyperventilating boy, she slammed the door shut. Turning to face Laura, she was met with a barrage of insults – ranging from insults reserved for late night television to the kind of insults you hear on playgrounds. Carmilla endured it bravely, soldiering on, but quickly grew impatient once Laura started taking her anger out on the objects in the room. She strode a few steps towards Laura, grasping her by her elbows and pulling her in to hold her, which seemed to subdue the girls’ violence, but did nothing to stop the verbal atrocities spewing from her mouth. Growing desperate, Carmilla tilted Laura’s head up before pushing their lips together roughly; not only did it catch Laura off guard, halting her tirade, but it took Laura so off guard that the entire debacle was temporarily forgotten. 

Carmilla ran her hands lightly across Laura’s waist, making Laura in turn thread her fingers in Carmilla’s hair to pull their faces closer together. In response, Carmilla rested her hands on Lauras hips, stroking her sides before pulling them even closer together. They eventually toppled onto a bed – neither one of them was coherent enough to see whose bed it was – to continue their activities. Carmilla was slowly running her hands up Laura’s sides, nudging hers shirt farther and farther up when LaFontaine and Perry burst in. 

“Laura, way to go – you totally kicked the Glee Clubs ass; I think I heard one guy calling his roommate to bring him a fresh pair of--” LaFontaine stopped quickly, blinking rapidly to make sure they weren’t having some weird hallucination. There it was, clear as day – Laura and Carmilla were tangled together on Carmilla’s bed, both of them breathless – with Laura’s shirt bunched around her bust line, and Carmilla’s pants half way down. 

“Oh” they started awkwardly, giving the girls a knowing grin “Sorry, we didn’t realize we were _interrupting_ , did we Per”? Perry nodded tightly, eyes scanning the room quickly, looking everywhere but at them. Carmilla suddenly remembered how to control her limbs, and returned both she and Laura to a fully-clothed state quickly, before sitting up and giving the intruders a harsh glare. 

“How many times have we told you to knock, you two?” Carmilla asked bitingly “It’s not that difficult a concept”. Perry at least had the good sense to look properly chastised, but it seemed that even Carmilla’s burning glare did nothing to assuage LaFontaine’s Cheshire grin – which seemed to be giving them an excess of confidence all of the sudden. They were about to open their mouth, to say something suggestive no doubt, but Carmilla would be damned if she let that happen – any more embarrassment and Laura would probably never return to her normal color again. 

“Out” she barked at the two simply and, to her relief, they obliged – but not before LaFontaine looked over their shoulder, winking suggestively at the pair before having the door slammed in their face. Carmilla let out a huff of air, running her hand through her hair, before turning back to smile apologetically at Laura. 

“Are you okay cupcake? You look a little traumatized” Carmilla noted humorously, placing a soft kiss on Laura’s forehead before wrapping her in her arms. Laura relaxed from her tense position, leaning back into Carmilla’s arms. 

“I’m fine. I just – that was eventful and” she looked briefly over at the clock on her desk and groaned “it’s not even nine yet. I still have to go to class and everything”. Carmilla bit back a laugh at her complaining, deciding that incurring the tiny girls’ wrath wasn’t worth it. 

“You know” Carmilla spoke thoughtfully “Human celebrations of holidays weren’t always filled with such drab musical selections”. Noting that small tilt of Laura head, Carmilla continued “They used to be more thoughtful, you could say – more deliberate. The songs were chosen based on their message, not because they were designated for the holiday. Plus, German is so much more romantic than English”.

“I don’t understand – how so?” Laura asked, a little timid. Carmilla gave her a genuine smile, pressing a kiss to her temple. 

“Tonight I’ll show you” Carmilla promised gently, before nudging Laura to get ready for her day and kissing her goodbye. 

That night, they whirled to an old waltz as Carmilla whispered long forgotten German lyrics into Laura’s ear and placed tender kisses all over her body.


	2. Tinsel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Laura ropes Carmilla into helping her get a tree and decorating it, but the day doesn't quite go as planned. Hollstein.

It was mid-December before Laura was able to talk Carmilla into reluctantly agreeing to help the younger girl acquire a small tree to decorate in their room. There was no arguing with Laura’s enthusiasm and no attempt otherwise – even a desperate leap into quoting the Student Handbook’s explicit ban on plants in the dorms – was fruitful. 

Which is why Carmilla was now, on a Saturday morning, trudging through the depths of the snow that seemed to have fallen almost overnight, listening to Laura prattle on about decorations and stocking and a vague reference to cookies. Carmilla wasn’t paying any particular attention to what Laura was saying, just offering ambiguous sounds of agreement whenever she paused in her endless flow of chatter, but she was forced to turn her attention to Laura when the smaller girl jabbed her in the ribs. 

“Ow, shit” Carmilla bit out “What?” she asked as she turned to face Laura, who gave her a disapproving look before repeating herself. 

“I _said_ that I was thinking we could decorate the tree once we get back, that way we have time to go to the Zeta mixer with everyone. What do you think?” Laura sounded a little annoyed but she didn’t seem to be holding it against the vampire, which was a good sign. 

“Are you kidding me?” Carmilla groaned, “First you interrupt my natural sleep schedule to drag me out here to mutilate a tree so we can put it on display in our room for a few weeks before you eventually make me throw it out, and now you want me to spend my afternoon decorating it so we can go to a half-baked excuse of a party with a bunch of lackwits?” 

“Carm” Laura dragged, a small whine in her voice “Come on, it’ll be fun. We can make fun of everyone if that makes you feel better. Just please, please, please” She dragged the last word out, not stopping until Carmilla bent down, pressing her lips softly against hers for a moment, before pulling away and looking down at Laura softly. 

“I know I’m going to regret this, but fine” Carmilla sighed as she twirled a strand of Laura’s hair around her finger, before adding on “You owe me” with a look at her girlfriend that wasn’t exactly subtle. Laura flushed but she didn’t drop her eyes from Carmilla’s as she nodded slightly, biting her lower lip. Carmilla lifted her hand to run her thumb along Laura’s bottom lip before gripping her jaw and bringing them together once more. It wasn’t until the noon bell rang out that Laura jumped back, squeaking that they needed to focus if they were going to stay on schedule. Carmilla let her go, trailing behind her thoughtfully, unable to help but smirk at her success in distracting Laura, even if only for a while. 

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Once they were back and liberated from their many layers of clothing, Laura bounded over to her bed and, with a bit of difficulty, pulled out a box that was so big Carmilla was mildly impressed she had even managed to fit it underneath her bed in the first place. She started unloading the contents, and Carmilla resigned herself to an afternoon of wrapping lights and hanging ornaments around their newly acquired tree. It was actually more pleasant than Carmilla had expected – Laura seemed to be so grateful for her help that she was in an exceptionally good mood, teasing Carmilla right back in a way that seemed genuinely flirtatious. 

Once Laura had placed a glimmering star on top of the tree, Carmilla couldn’t help but admire their handiwork – it was, admittedly, a very nice tree. So when Laura scraped one last thing out of the box of decorations, Carmilla was surprised. When she saw the package, shiny with its contents, Carmilla froze. 

“Oh hell no” she said bluntly. Laura looked over at her quizzically. 

“What?” Laura said in a voice so innocent, Carmilla couldn’t be sure if it was a ploy or not. 

“No way in hell are we putting tinsel on the tree. Its fine as it is, and tinsel just makes a mess. Plus, it’s tacky” Carmilla said firmly, raising her brow when Laura looked affronted. You would have thought she had said something to insult the girls’ honor or competence with the way she was looking at her. 

“Oh it ‘makes a mess’? Really?” Laura asked sardonically “You mean like how your clothes make a mess? Or your hair? Or your general lack of hygiene?”

“We aren’t putting tinsel on the tree” Carmilla repeated, ignoring Laura’s outburst. Laura fixed her jaw, and in a move she would later swear was due completely to Carmilla having a poor influence on her, dug her hand into the bag and flung tinsel all over a shocked Carmilla. 

“Fine.” Laura said smugly “We won’t put it on the tree, we’ll put it on you instead”. Her smugness only lasted a moment until Carmilla’s disbelief gave way to mischievousness.

Carmilla ran her hand up Laura’s leg, grazing the skin of her thighs through her jeans until her hand came to rest on the younger girls’ hip, with her thumb stroking idly above the buttons on her jeans. Carmilla watched as Laura bit her lip and she slowly brought herself to hover over her, leaning down to brush their lips together. Laura was having trouble breathing, and it didn’t help when Carmilla started running both her hands over Laura’s sides, down her thighs, and over her hips. 

Carmilla inched her hands closer to the button on Laura’s jeans before ever-so-gently grasping the bag of tinsel and, in one smooth motion, emptying the remains of the bag on top of Laura’s head. The smaller girl sputtered angrily, looking livid, until she lurched forward and crashed herself into Carmilla, who in turn flipped them over so that Carmilla was on top before grasping Laura’s hands behind her head and leaning down to kiss her. Laura felt like her head was spinning, but eventually she regained her sense of anger and flipped Carmilla over, holding her in place to give her a lecture and barrage of insults – all of which were softened with punctuating kisses along her jaw, on her forehead, and on the tip of her nose. They continued their mock-fight, and neither of them showed any signs of backing down when Laura’s ancient phone squeaked out a reminder that they needed to start getting ready for the party. 

Carmilla reluctantly let Laura go, watching her amusedly as she attempted to get all the tinsel out of her hair. 

“You know” Carmilla said seductively “A shower might help with that” she finished with a wave at Laura’s vain attempt to remove the shiny monstrosities from her hair. 

“Oh really?” Laura asked challengingly.

“Of course. Though, having someone help makes the process much easier” Carmilla replied coyly, flicking her eyes up to Laura before offering a playful smile.

“I don’t suppose your actually offering to help me.” Laura shot back, her cheeks flaming at the thought of them in the shower together. Carmilla offered her a sly glance at the bathroom before she replied, her brow raised delicately. 

“I’ll help you if you help me cupcake” Carmilla answered with her eyes locked on Laura’s as she rose and led her gently by the hand into their shared bathroom. Laura sputtered for a moment before meeting Carmilla’s eyes. 

Zeta mixers happen all the time, Laura reasoned, and missing this one wouldn’t be that big a deal; after all, a private party with Carmilla was much more appealing.


	3. Thoughtful Practicalities

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's amazing how Laura can be so sentimental and practical all at the same time.

Carmilla was slouched on her bed reading one of her dusty old philosophy books when Laura burst through the door, brimming with excitement, eyes shining so brightly Carmilla could almost see stars in them. Laura flung her things onto her bed carelessly, rummaging messily through her shoulder bag to pull out a nondescriptly wrapped package. She turned, beaming to a seemingly disinterested Carmilla – who was secretly worried that Laura’s sugar habit had finally boiled over the edge and gone to her head– and flopped down next to her, thrusting the package into her face.

“And what exactly is this?” Carmilla inquired lazily, her mouth twitching upward at the euphoria permeating the room since Laura had arrived. Laura couldn’t seem to contain herself, bouncing excitedly on the bed before replying.

“Open it open it open it” she gushed out quickly, shaking with excitement. Carmilla sighed and leaned forward, grabbing the package from her hands and observing it carefully. 

“You do realize the time for presents isn’t quite here yet, right?” Carmilla asked dryly, though she couldn’t hide a faint note of curiosity that lingered in her voice. Laura just sat there, bouncing like a human pogo stick, waiting for Carmilla to open the package. Rolling her eyes at the girls’ antics, Carmilla carefully pulled the tape securing the package loose, shedding the paper until something soft and warm fell onto her lap, earning a squeal of excitement from Laura. Carmilla picked up the lump of fabric, letting it roll out to reveal a long, thin, and surprisingly warm button up sweater. Carmilla looked at it intently noting the design – black with a red bow stitched into the lower left side, the buttons a smooth, cool onyx – and how the garment was stitched to fit snugly around whoever wore it. Obviously, Laura had taken great care to buy her something that resembled her tastes, and Carmilla had to admit she was surprised – most of the sweaters being sold right now were hideous and ridiculously festive, not to mention itchy so Laura must have put in an incredible amount of effort to find a sweater that wasn’t an eyesore, matched her color palate, and was high quality. Glancing over the top of the sweater, Carmilla noted that Laura seemed to be anxious, waiting to see how her gift was received. Carmilla decided that a little teasing was never out of order.

“What do we have here?” Carmilla intoned in the most ambiguous voice she could manage. Laura seemed to falter a little, but put on a brave face as she responded.

“It’s a sweater, obviously. I know right now everyone is going on and on about ugly sweater season, but I didn’t think you’d like that; plus they’re so impractical – after the holiday’s you can’t really wear them anymore! I really wanted to get you something you could wear for the holiday’s but can keep wearing afterward too, and I wanted it to be something you could wear with the rest of your stuff, so I thought this one was perfect. I know vampires don’t really need warm clothes and that you can’t get hypothermia or frost bite or anything like that, but I’ve noticed that when it’s cold out you seem uncomfortable or annoyed – just because the cold won’t kill you doesn’t mean you’re completely immune right? Anyway, I thought it’d be nice to have, but they had other styles too so we can exchange it for another one or something if you don’t like –“

Laura’s rambling was cut off went Carmilla set the sweater down carefully and crawled towards her before grasping Laura’s wildly gesturing hands in hers and pressing their lips together softly. Laura, caught off guard, didn’t respond immediately, but when she did it was just as enthusiastic as her previous bouncing had been. Laura wrapped her hands around Carmilla’s elbows, leaning back slowly to let the vampire rest on top of her, her hands braced on either side of Laura’s head as they kept their momentum going. When Laura came up for air, Carmilla, pressed a soft kiss against her lips once more, before moving to cover her neck in small kisses as Laura threaded her fingers in Carmilla’s hair, humming contently.

“I take it you like the sweater” Laura said softly as she moved her hands to stroke Carmilla’s face, bringing her forward to plant a tender kiss on the vampires cheek. Carmilla offered a rare smile.

“I love it” Carmilla said as she peppered kisses over Laura hair and face before leaning back and grasping her by the shoulders, looking deeply into her eyes “I love you” she finished. Laura’s heart sped up and she wrapped her hands around Carmilla’s shoulders, tugging her back down to their prior position, and kissing Carmilla slowly, both of them whispering _I love you_ in between each kiss.


	4. Darkest Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Carmilla has some serious making up to do, and she turns to some good old Yuletide cheer to do the trick.

Laura has had it up to here with Carmilla’s snarky attitude; it was bad enough she had a perpetually sardonic attitude, but it was increasing steadily as the holidays approached and it was putting a real damper on Laura’s excitement. She was doing her best to block it out and not let it bother her – finals were quickly approaching and she wasn’t about to let herself be distracted from her studies. Which is why she was now sitting at her desk, eyes bleary with sleep and her Pandora holiday station playing jingles softly to keep her awake as Carmilla sat brooding in her bed behind her, scoffing ever so often when a particularly annoying lyric was sung. However, it’s when _I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Clause_ starts to play that she really lets her distain loose. 

“You know” Carmilla started smarmily “Santa’s a bit of a creep if you think about it”. Laura straightened her spine, spinning in her chair to glare at Carmilla.

“What does that even mean?” Laura scoffed.

“Well” Carmilla replied in a mocking tone “Stalking children? Watching them sleep? Making lists of who’s ‘naughty’ or ‘nice’? Sneaking into the house after everyone is asleep? Add all that to him apparently knowing where each of these kids lives and it just sounds like a textbook case of a creep to me”. Laura’s jaw dropped – it was one thing to be a Scrooge, but to take a bazooka to her childhood was a completely different thing!

“That is completely out of context” Laura sputtered angrily, not really knowing how to respond. 

“Please, cupcake, it says it all in the songs, doesn’t it?” Carmilla asked smugly “Next you’re probably going to tell me Rudolph wasn’t in a codependent abusive relationship with his darling reindeer community.” Laura shrieked before answering her query. 

“Where the hell are you getting that one from?” Laura asked furiously.

“Well let’s see…” Carmilla mused, “They treat him like trash for the first few years of his life just because he’s different from the rest of them and completely make him feel unwanted, under-appreciated and terrible about himself; which, makes him feel useless and worthless because if he isn’t doing what the other reindeer do, what’s his purpose? Then as soon as he has something they need, they flock to him and kiss his ass and he just takes it, because he finally has a place to belong. It’s totally unhealthy and manipulative and so, so wrong.” Laura feels a little dizzy at the deep analysis of one of her favorite movies and holiday songs. She grits her teeth, pushing herself up from her desk, screeching the chair back before turning to level her best glare at Carmilla, with her hands on her hips. 

“If you don’t want to at least attempt to enjoy some of the holidays, that’s your business, but the least you could do is try to not ruin it for everyone else” Laura bit out lividly, before shoving her chair back into place roughly, stomping over to her bed to flop into it unceremoniously, turning over to go to sleep and deciding to ignore Carmilla’s existence for the rest of the night. Carmilla squirmed a little internally – Laura wasn’t pissed that often, but it was abundantly clear that this was one of those rare times. She hadn’t meant to upset her so much – she loved Laura’s enthusiasm, her naivetés, and her endless optimism and the last thing she wanted was to take that away from her. 

Carmilla drew her phone out of her pocket, scrolling through a Wiki page dedicated to holiday traditions, and hovered over a passage that caught her eye before biting a smile back, glancing over at Laura quickly to make sure she was still being ignored, before she got researching on how to acquire what she needed. It was perfect – it was a distinctly festive holiday tradition that she could enjoy, and it would help her get Laura to forgive her. 

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Laura shuffled her feet on the floor, eager to get to her warm dorm room and drown herself in hot chocolate and the tin of cookies her dad had sent her in a care package. She was stopped, however, by the door refusing to budge. She pushed against it again, to no avail, and swore to herself silently. She hasn’t had to use her room key since she first got here and she had gradually stopped taking it with her everywhere – why drag something around she didn’t need? She rested her forehead against the door before reluctantly dragging herself down the hall to Perry’s room, hoping the floor don would be there to let her into her room. She gave two brisk knocks on the door, waiting patiently when Perry gave a quick _just a minute_ in response. 

“Hey Perry” Laura started as the door began opening, “I know you’re busy but I was hoping that –“ she faltered abruptly as she noted that the floor don was still smoothing down her sweater and her hair was more disarrayed than normal. Laura raised her brow silently, biting back a grin at the abashed look on Perry’s face. 

“Oh hey Laura” LaFontiane interrupted, coming to lean against the door frame nonchalantly, seemingly oblivious to the fact some of Perry’s lipstick was smeared in the corner of their mouth, “Perry and I were thinking about having a study bash in the lounge later tonight, so we’re trying to get everything set up for that last minute”. Laura was trying very, very hard not to laugh at LaFontaine’s obvious forced disinterest. 

“Oh that’s fun” Laura played along “I look forward to it! It’ll be nice to get out of the room and study in a new environment. When does it start”? LaFontaine frowned, but replied quickly. 

“We’re actually not sure yet” they replied as Perry shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot “It’s all very last minute, so we’re hoping we can organize it quickly enough to get all the details figured out”. As enjoyable as watching them dig themselves into a hole, Laura’s amusement was quickly fading and she really just wanted to get back in her room. 

“Okay, well I just need to get into my room” Laura responded tiredly “for some reason the door is locked and I don’t have my key”. Perry seemed to perk up at this, resuming official floor don mode and nodding briskly as she strode into the room and back out with a ring of keys, beckoning Laura to follow her and instructing LaFontaine to keep going with the plans. As she reached Laura’s door she paused and turned to Laura quickly. 

“I think we both know LaFontaine is a terrible liar” Perry began calmly “So don’t speak a word of what you saw or of this ridiculous study bash they concocted, and I won’t charge you for a lockout”. Laura opened her mouth to reply, but Perry rushed on “Plus, I’ll make you as many sugary filled treats as you want, no judgment”. Laura snapped her jaw closed, thinking over the offer. It was easy enough. 

“You got it” Laura grinned, eager to get into her room. Perry regarded Laura thoughtfully, before turning to unlock the door, spinning away on her heel quickly and rushing back to her own room. Shaking her head and grinning, Laura pushed the door open. 

“You know Carm, if you really wanted to start locking the door you could have given me a heads up” Laura grumbled out, before stopping short, letting her bag fall to the floor. The entire ceiling was strung with mistletoe, and white twinkle lights were threaded through the plants to create a beautiful, glimmering canopy. Carmilla sat on her bed, watching Laura react carefully. 

“You know” Carmilla began delicately “I think you may have been right. The holidays aren’t all that bad. I even found a tradition I liked” She gestured lightly to the arrangement above them, smiling softly. Laura just stood there, still reeling from the effort Carmilla must have put into doing this and how she and managed to do it so quickly. 

“And” Carmilla looked down at her lap, biting her lip uncertainly “I’m sorry for the way I was acting. You’re right, I’ve been an asshole, and you deserve better than that”. Laura’s eyes softened as she walked towards the bed, sitting down next to Carmilla, and brushing the bangs out of her eyes, letting her hand trail down her arm and letting it rest on top of her hand. Carmilla squeezed her hand lightly and offered Laura a small smile. 

“I just don’t understand why you’ve been so…bitter” Laura said softly, “even you aren’t normally that broody”. Carmilla ran her free hand through her hair, letting out a shaky breathe before turning to look at her girlfriend, and making an impulsive decision to open up to her. After the way she had been acting, the least she could do was be honest. 

“I just” Carmilla hesitated, not sure how to say what she needed to say “It’s just hard to see everything around the holidays. People are so happy and it’s a time when families come together. It reminds me of my family – my human one. I checked in on them every so often after Mother brought me back. I-I’ll never forget the first Christmas after I was murdered. I went back to check in on them and everything was so…empty. My mother especially struggled; I was their only child and she loved me dearly. Losing me killed her. She died before she had a second Christmas without me. She was perfectly healthy when I was killed, and I sometimes think it was the grief over losing me that killed her. I know she would have died eventually, but she was so full of life – she should have had a longer life, and her last days shouldn’t have been so dark”. Laura’s heart squeezed in sympathy – she understood the pain of losing a parent, but to carry that guilt around for centuries must have been excruciating. She squeezed Carmilla’s hand lightly, leaning in the kiss her softly. Carmilla ran her thumb over Laura’s hand before moving their joined hands up to stroke Laura’s hair. Laura pulled back just enough to look Carmilla in the eyes. 

“I’m so sorry Carm” Laura said earnestly, her eyes looking a little tearful. She wanted to say more, but she didn’t have words, so she leaned in again, pressing her lips against Carmilla’s willing her to feel everything she couldn’t say. It seemed to work, and Carmilla responded sincerely, both of them moving together and communicating everything they couldn’t say. It wasn’t quite what Carmilla had planned when she strung up the decorations, but somehow this felt even better.


	5. Symbolism

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which fairy lights are symbolic of Laura and of her relationship with Carmilla.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this one has Carmilla being all contemplative and mushy. It's definitely the shortest thing I've ever written, and it was done while tutoring people, so it might be a bit of a mess.

Though she was loathe to admit it, the last few nights had not been spent staring at the stars and engaging in her existential angst, but rather they were spent looking at the fairy lights that had been draped over as many surfaces on campuses as possible. She's not sure what her preoccupation with the lights were -- they were bright but not harsh; they shined softly, gently capturing her attention before drawing her in deeper. 

It wasn't until a week after her light-gazing began that she figured out way. As she focused on the lights with rapt attention, she couldn't help but think of Laura. Of how brightly she shone -- her optimism, enthusiasm, and encouragement shined through like a beacon of hope in Carmilla's perpetually dark days. Her brightness might have been blinding if it weren't softened by her compassion, understanding, and forgiving nature. That softness is what first captured her attention -- how Laura saw good in her when she had long lost the ability to see it in herself, how she was willing to forgive Carmilla for her past transgressions and offer her a fresh start, and how she never lost the innocence that Carmilla had long ago stopped mistaking for foolery. It made her sunshine-infused personality all the more appealing and all the more captivating. 

God, she was being a love-struck moron, but she couldn't help it. Laura Hollis was everything -- she was fierce, strong, noble, brave, and honest but she wasn't a pushover and she stood her ground. Laura Hollis loved Carmilla, for everything she was and everything she wasn't; she was the only person to accept her fully and wholeheartedly for who she was 

Carmilla loved her back. She loved her for her ceaseless excitement, for her curiosity and wonder, for her stubborn antics and ridiculous jokes and her gorgeous smile. Carmilla loved Laura as completely as Laura loved her, and while that love was burning and intense, it was softened by the tenderness and care of it. They were in love, but that love was not blind, and that was what made them special.


End file.
